Electric valve actuators can be used to actuate cylinder valves, such as intake and/or exhaust valves of an internal combustion engine. When using electric valve actuators for such systems, it may be beneficial to initialize the valves to preselected positions to reduce battery loading.
One approach for initializing valves is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,608. As illustrated in FIG. 5, all of the electrically actuated cylinder valves are initialized before cranking of the engine begins. This operation allegedly reduces the maximum consumption current by the initial attraction for the valves and suppresses a reduction in the output voltage of the battery.
However, the inventors herein have recognized a disadvantage with such an approach. In particular, because all of the valves are initialized before cranking begins, total engine starting time can be lengthened. Thus, the delay between a requested start by the driver and the actual engine start can be increased, thereby leading to degraded customer satisfaction. Further, in the case illustrated in FIG. 5 where the valves are all maintained closed, battery loading may actually be increased during cranking due to the increasing pumping work required to compress the air trapped in the cylinders.